Afro-Colombian communities in the past year have faced increasing threats of displacement and violence. On September 21st, LAWGEF joined the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and other partner organizations in organizing a public event in DC where Clemencia Carabali Rodallega, a prominent Afro-Colombian leader, spoke about the dire situation that many communities are in today. The following video and quotes were taken from that event.
In 2005, I visited the community of San José de Apartadó, Colombia. A group of poor farmers who had been repeatedly displaced from their homes by violence, they had decided to call themselves a “peace community” and reject violence from all sides—paramilitaries, guerrillas and the army. Yet the community was subjected to ever more harassment and violence, including by the local 17th army brigade. Some 170 members of the peace community have been assassinated since 1997. My visit came soon after seven members of the peace community, including three children, and a local farmer had been massacred and dismembered. The community members had left their army-occupied town to construct a bare-bones, dirt-floor village down the road.
For a lot of people, the day after Labor Day is the time to get down to business. For us, it's just September 7th. Why? Because when you're going for change as big as we are on U.S.-Colombia policy, you never stop working hard.
Colombia's Constitutional Court issued an important decision last week
which sent Colombia's new administration back to the drawing board to
secure approval for a U.S.-Colombian military base agreement. The
decision effectively struck down the contentious agreement, chastising
the Colombian executive for having failed to get approval from
Colombia's Congress, and requiring them now to seek congressional
endorsement before moving forward.
On August 13th, a car bomb was detonated near the Caracol Radio headquarters, one of the largest networks in Colombia. LAWGEF and its partners issued the following statement in response:
Stop the eviction of this incredible community!If the Colombian government does not change its mind, tomorrow the 1052 families that make up the Afro-Colombian community La Toma will be evicted from the land that they have lived on for almost 400 years. We cannot let this happen.
A big white teddy bear sat on top of one of the little coffin boxes, and red roses on the other three. The remains of the four sisters were finally being returned to their mother, Blanca Nieves Meneses.
“I never thought that this is the way they would be returned to me,” said their surviving sister Nancy. “I always kept hoping that they would be returned alive.”
This week marked the 10th year since the infamous U.S. aid package known as “Plan Colombia” was signed into law. And while some U.S. and Colombian officials have been celebrating it as a “success” and pushing to use it as a model for other countries like Afghanistan or Mexico, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) chose to commemorate this anniversary by releasing a report that describes exactly why that analysis is not only misguided but also dangerous.
Over two thousand civilians intentionally killed by army soldiers
seeking to beef up their body counts and score days off. A massive
illegal wiretapping operation by the president’s intelligence agency
targeting Supreme Court judges, journalists, opposition politicians and
human rights defenders. Seven human rights defenders and leaders of
displaced communities killed in May alone, in a nation where threats and
attacks against defenders are rarely effectively investigated and
government officials’ denunciations of them place them in danger. In
which authoritarian country opposed to the United States did these
abuses take place? In none other than Colombia, often called “the
United States’ best ally in the Western Hemisphere.” And we, the U.S.
taxpayers, bankrolled this friendship to the tune of more than $6
billion.
Far Worse than Watergate reveals the inside story about a wiretapping scandal in Colombia. It documents how the Colombian government’s intelligence agency not only spied upon major players in Colombia’s democracy—from Supreme Court and Constitutional Court judges to presidential candidates, from journalists and publishers to human rights defenders, unions and faith-based organizations, from international organizations to U.S. and European human rights groups—but also carried out dirty tricks, and even death threats, to undermine their legitimate, democratic activities.
The year was 2004. I was contacted by Colombian human rights activists. Would I please come to Colombia to join them in a book launch of the second edition of The Authoritarian Spell? They were worried that the book, a collectively written critique of what they saw as authoritarian tendencies by the administration of President Alvaro Uribe, would provoke a reaction, and wanted international accompaniment. I said yes, and went to one of the book launches in Medellín, where a professor at the local university spoke and introduced me and several of the book’s coauthors, and we had a genteel, scholarly discussion of current events, in an auditorium filled mainly with students and professors.
Little did we know that the book, criticized by the government as exaggerated, was in fact far too light a critique of the government’s authoritarian tendencies.
Colombia’s outgoing President has launched an assault against his country’s courts for taking some initial steps to bring high-ranking military and government officials to justice for their role in murder, illegal wiretapping, disappearances and torture. This is no abstract political debate. When the President takes to the airwaves to denounce those working for justice, the judges, lawyers, witnesses and victims’ families know that death threats, and sometimes murder, often follow. The threats and attacks usually appear to be from paramilitary groups. Colombia’s Supreme Court made a call for help: “We make an appeal to the international community to accompany and show solidarity with the Colombian judicial system which is being assaulted for carrying out its duties.”
On Tuesday night, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton landed in Colombia; by today she'll be in Barbados. During her 24 hours in Colombia, do you think she heard much about the rise in threats and attacks against Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities in Colombia? Did President Uribe talk with her about the illegal wiretapping that part of his special intelligence service used to sabotage the work of human rights defenders, journalists, and Supreme Court judges? Or would you guess she talked with any of Colombia's almost 5 million internally displaced people about how they have been robbed of their land and forced to live in misery?
We doubt it. But these issues are exactly what she must be thinking about as the State Department prepares to make its most important decisionon U.S.-Colombia policy this year.
Death threats, attacks and assassinations. Human rights defenders and indigenous, afro-descendant, and IDP leaders in Colombia often face these terrors, but lately there has been a major spike in these actions—and we’re worried. This past week, LAWGEF and our partners released a public statement to the Colombian and U.S. governments, calling on the Colombian government to take action now to investigate and prosecute these threats and attacks, protect the people at risk, and make it publicly clear that human rights defenders’ work is legitimate and important.
As I listened to mothers and sisters and sons describe how they found their loved one in the morgue of a Colombian army base, dressed up in a guerrilla uniform when they knew he was a civilian, I was not only saddened, I was stunned by the striking similarity of the cases. From Casanare, Meta, Cauca, the facts were so similar. Witnesses saw the person being taken prisoner by a group of army soldiers. They went looking for him, thinking he’d be detained on the army base. Then they were shown a photo or the body of their relative, dead and claimed by the army as killed in combat.
As Colombians go to the polls May 30th, they will elect a president who
will have a historic opportunity to change the lives of millions of
Colombians affected in profound and tragic ways by the country’s
enduring armed conflict. The Latin America Working Group and partner
organizations have sent an open letter to Colombia’s presidential and
vice presidential candidates to ask them how they will lead the nation
in building a more just and inclusive society that promotes and respects
the rights of all its citizens.
Over the last couple weeks, from Tempe, Arizona to Duluth, Minnesota,
Olympia, Washington to Jackson Heights, New York, people like you have
been creating hundreds of portraits of our
Colombian sisters and brothers and have been showcasing them in your community centers, churches
and city streets. And people are paying attention!
But to make a real impact, we need Washington to get in on the
conversation, too.
The National Days of Action for Colombia have begun! As we write you this update, people all across the country are gathering their materials, friends, and families, and are preparing to "face the displaced." Are you?
If this is the first time you're hearing about it, don't worry; it's not too late. Here are four ways you can get involved in the movement to stand with those working for peace in Colombia.
Until two years ago, José Goyes had lived in the indigenous community of
Honduras in Cauca, Colombia. But his life came under threat because of
his role as a leader in his community's struggle for land rights in the
face of abuses committed by a multinational corporation that owns a dam
in their area. The threats got worse and worse until finally on July 5,
2008, as he was leaving his office, hitmen fired 4 shots at him.
Luckily, he survived, but he was forced to flee to Bogotá.
With over 4.9 million Colombians forcibly displaced from their homes by a debilitating war, Colombia is now the second worst internal displacement crisis in the world. Between now and April 30, tens of thousands across the U.S. and Colombia will participate in this year’s National Days of Action for Colombia to call for a much-needed shift in U.S. policies toward the war-torn country. Please join us! Click here for photos, stories, instructions, factsheets, and more!
This year, the National Days of Action will focus on the displacement crisis, but in a different way than last year when we made thousands of paper dolls to symbolize the number of IDPs in Colombia. This year we’re asking you to go a step further than just understanding what is happening, and start talking about why in a campaign we’re calling “Face the Displaced – Colombia: Our Hemisphere’s Hidden Humanitarian Crisis.”
The art project: Our partners in Colombia have helped us gather over 40 faces of forcibly displaced people in Colombia and their stories. As a way to make our legislators and communities face up to the human reality of this crisis, we’re going to make large posters displaying these people and their words, and will frame them with a message to President Obama asking for U.S. policies towards Colombia that will support internally displaced people and help alleviate the crisis.
Take a look at the example we made on the right. Now, imagine how powerful thousands of posters like these would be!
Community action: Once we’ve made these posters, we’re going to need your help organizing public events and church services all over the country where we can display these faces and teach about the displacement crisis in Colombia. Even if you can’t do a poster making party, if you can join the hundreds of grassroots groups and churches both in the United States and in Colombia that will be educating their communities throughout April and praying for peace in Colombia on the weekend of April 16-19th, it will make a huge difference.Click here for more information on organizing a demonstration.
Legislative change: We’ll work with you during April and beyond to ensure that Washington feels the force of the movement calling for change in U.S. policies towards Colombia. First, they’ll hear from you on the National Call-In Day on April 19th. Then, once you’ve displayed these faces in your cities, send the materials to Washington in May where we’ll be doing some last big displays before taking the faces with to Congress and the Administration to deliver your message. We’ll post more info on these actions soon!
Spring is coming and major grassroots action for peace in Colombia is near! Soon communities all across the country will start preparing for Days of Prayer and Action, when we will join in solidarity with our Colombian sisters and brothers and show policymakers the real size of the movement for change in U.S.-Colombia policy.
We want to make sure we can count on you to get involved because right now the stakes are higher than ever before.
In January, I traveled to Colombia on a delegation with Witness for Peace to meet with communities resisting displacement in Northern Cauca and with communities of internally displaced people near Bogotá and Cali. Since I got back, I’ve viewed my work differently, and here’s why:
I realized that in our advocacy we talk so much about “victims,” when the word we really should be using is “heroes.”
In a decisive ruling for democracy, Colombia’s Constitutional Court determined February 26th that a law authorizing a referendum to change the
constitution to permit a second consecutive reelection of President
Álvaro Uribe would be unconstitutional. President Uribe immediately accepted the decision.
We thought you should hear this story from Lisa Bonds, with our partner
Lutheran World Relief in Colombia. See LWR’s blog on Colombia and other
topics by clicking here.
“I joined my Lutheran World Relief colleagues and Rosario Montoya, the
Director of Fundacion Infancia Feliz, in a visit to the ‘Finca la
Alemania,’ the German farm… As we drove to the farm, Rosario briefed us
on the farm's history and the people who had recently returned to the
farm after having been displaced by one of the most feared paramilitary
leaders, called ‘the Chain,’ in the state of Cordoba...
Did you have a restful holiday? We hope you did because now that the
new year is here we're going to be putting you back to work in pushing
for real change in U.S. policies towards Colombia.
As we pointed out in a recent blog post reflecting on "Obama's First Year,"
although the administration promised us a foreign policy that would
bring us hope and change, Colombia policy is still falling far short.
Giving Colombia a free pass on the human rights conditions, signing
military base agreements, continuing high levels of military aid—these
actions are a bitter disappointment. Yet we have seen some good signs,
especially when President Obama raised real concerns about human rights
and democracy when Colombian President Uribe came to visit the White
House. This year, no excuses: We want our government to use both words and deeds to say that respect for human rights does matter.
In every province of Colombia, women long to know what happened to
their husbands, to their daughters, to their sons. Children want to
know what happened to their fathers, to their mothers.
Even Colombia’s associations of families of the disappeared have long
estimated that at most the disappeared totaled 15,000. And many did
not believe the toll was so high.
But as forensic teams are conducting exhumations following the partial
paramilitary demobilization, prosecutors are interviewing paramilitary
leaders, Colombia’s National Search Commission is soliciting
information from the victims, and victims are organizing to know the
truth, the scale of the human catastrophe is slowly being unveiled.
We have a real challenge with the Obama Administration. President Obama gets that we need to work together with the rest of the world. That’s great. But his administration hasn’t found its voice on human rights and backed up its words with action. They think that by mentioning more about human rights than the Bush Administration did, it is enough. So far, they haven’t been willing to actually change U.S. policy to support victims of violence in places like Mexico and Colombia, even though they must do so if they want to become part of the solution, not the problem.
On Friday, November 6th, the U.S. government finally released itsestimate of how much coca was cultivated in Colombia in 2008. The result is the first reduction in coca-growing since 2002-2003, a significant drop from 167,000 hectares measured in 2007 to 119,000 hectares in 2008. (A hectare is equal to 2.47 acres.) This brings the U.S. government’s coca cultivation estimate to its lowest level since 2004. (The U.S. government has not yet released 2008 coca data for Peru and Bolivia.)
This matches a downward 2007-2008 trend – though not the number of hectares – that the UN Office on Drugs and Crime announced (PDF) back in June.
A reduction in coca cultivation is good news. But what caused it?
We're hitting the ground running with Human Rights NOW and we need you to join us in a taking an urgent action today.
Our mission?Convince as many congressional representatives as possible before December 7th
to sign on to a letter calling for real change in U.S. policy towards
Colombia, so that it can be sent out ASAP to Secretary of State
Clinton.
Hear LAWG's director talk on Chicago Public Radio's Worldview program about the "two Colombias": The one in which the war is winding down and all is going well; and the other one, in which hundreds of thousands of people are still fleeing their homes from violence, the army as well as guerrillas and paramilitaries are killing civilians, and the government is illegally wiretapping the institutions that are the basic building blocks of democracy.
Click here to listen to it on the Chicago Public Radio website.
As a newcomer to the LAWG team, and inside the beltway advocacy, I have
been surprised over the last few months to learn what it actually takes
to achieve the change we want. Before I started, I assumed that if we
could simply bring the facts about real people who are suffering as a
result of U.S. policies in countries like Mexico and Colombia, we could
make it happen. But it turns out that there's so much more that goes on
in DC every day than I could have anticipated.
Writing a few days ago in El Espectador, columnist Felipe Zuleta
reported that mothers of young men killed by the Colombian military
have begun receiving anonymous threats.
The mothers live in the poor Bogotá suburb of Soacha, where in 2008
elements of the Colombian Army abducted young men, killing them and
later presenting their bodies as those of illegal armed group members
killed in combat. When news of the Soacha killings broke in September
2008, the scandal forced the firing of 27 Army personnel. Murder trials
have been proceeding very slowly, with an increasing likelihood that
some of those responsible may not be punished.
Although we now have new leadership in Washington, they still don't
understand what they need to do to stand up for human rights. They
think that by saying more about the importance of human rights and
democracy than the Bush Administration did, they are making progress.
But we know that until they actually change U.S. policies to support
victims of violence in places like Mexico and Colombia, they will
continue to be a part of the problem, not the solution.
Now, if we can get them to hear what we hear from people in Mexico and
Colombia and know what we know, they might change their tune.
So, this month we are launching a "Human Rights NOW" campaign, which will use innovative tactics to get them to make human rights come first in U.S. policy.
This seems like a simple concept. But lately, the Obama Administration
and the State Department seem to have forgotten it when dealing with
Latin America. Despite serious human rights abuses by Colombian and
Mexican security forces alike, the State Department just went ahead and
declared that both countries were meeting the human rights requirements
needed in order to receive more U.S. military aid.
Today, LAWGEF joined labor, environmental, human rights, development and faith-based organizations in submitting written comments to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) in response to a formal request to the public for opinions on the pending trade agreement. In their comments, these groups outlined the specific human rights and labor problems in Colombia, and urged the Obama Administration to insist upon seeing fundamental improvements on these issues before going forward with a free trade agreement. Violence against trade unionists and other obstacles to worker rights were outlined by the AFL-CIO and US Labor Education in the Americas Project. Some groups also outlined the potential impact of the trade agreement on the rural poor, including Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities.
Last week, a group of intrepid activists came together to raise awareness about the serious human rights issues that the Colombian government is seeking to hide with their recent campaign “Discover Colombia through its Heart.” Here are some great pictures shot of actions during the week by Brandon Wu from Public Citizen.
Just as the Bush Administration did countless times before, the Obama
Administration certified on September 8th that Colombia meets the human
rights conditions in law. The conditions, which refer to gross
violations of human rights by Colombia’s security forces and
collaboration between those forces and paramilitary or other illegal
armed groups, are attached to thirty percent of Colombia’s military aid.
You heard that right. With a massive humanitarian crisis on their hands, the Colombian government is spending $800,000 on an installation of more than forty, 8-13 ft tall heart sculptures in DC and New York this fall. This campaign, called "Colombia Is Passion," was supposedly designed to educate Americans about the "real" Colombia, a fun and beautiful country in which violence and human rights abuses are a thing of the distant past.
At this point, you might be asking, "Why this? Why now?"
Why is the United States expanding its military bases in Colombia?
What does this mean for U.S.-Colombia relations?
What does this mean for the region?
These are the questions on the lips of many Latin American leaders and activists as they react to the deal under works between Colombia and United States that would grant the U.S. military access to at least five additional Colombian military bases. This deal with Colombia comes quickly after Ecuador decided to end its agreement with the U.S. that allowed the U.S. military access to the Manta airbase on Ecuador’s Pacific coast.
Well, it wasn't the ringing call for respect for human rights and freedom of expression that we longed for --that's for sure. But when President Obama met with Colombian President Uribe on June 29th, it was clear that he had been listening to our message on Colombia.
“Money for the victims, money for the displaced. No more money for
murder and waste!” Chanted the crowd gathered outside the White House
on Monday, June 29th. Inside, Colombian President Uribe was trying to
get the same approval from President Obama that he received from the
Bush Administration, and activists from around the city came to make
sure that he would not get it. Attracting media attention and stopping
traffic, they exposed the human rights abuses committed by the
Colombian military and demanded that the U.S. change its policies to
support victims of the ongoing violence.
As President Uribe visits the White House, the scandal regarding the Colombian intelligence agency Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS) is widening daily. According to Colombia’s Attorney General, over the last seven years the DAS systematically and without warrants tapped the phones and email of Colombia’s major human rights groups, prominent journalists, members of the Supreme Court (including the chief justice and the judge in charge of the parapolitics investigation), opposition politicians, and the main labor federation. Not only did DAS personnel spy on their targets, they spied on their families. This includes taking photos of their children, investigating their homes, their finances, and their daily routines. DAS even wrote a detailed manual of spying methods for personnel to follow.
So it's going to happen. Colombian President Uribe will make his first
visit to the Obama White House next Monday to discuss the future of
Plan Colombia and the stalled U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
with President Obama. While the two leaders met at the Summit of the
Americas in April, this could be the moment when President Obama makes
clear his positions on Colombia. It's up to us to use this opportunity
to make sure that he sets the right course from the get-go by making
human rights a priority in U.S. policy towards Colombia.
Since 2007, the Latin America Working Group has been demanding action
to end the killings of civilians by the Colombian Army. While the
Colombian government has taken some steps to address these systematic
abuses, the nightmare is not yet over. Two important resources have
just come out that show that much more needs to be done.
In mid-May, shortly after being confirmed to lead the White House
Office on National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowski offered the
latest hint that the Obama Administration might take a new approach to
counternarcotics.
We're emailing to say "¡gracias!" for participating in the 2009 Days of
Prayer and Action for Colombia. Whether you mailed postcards to
President Obama, organized a prayer service for your local
congregation, or simply sent good vibes in our direction, you were part
of the largest national call for peace in Colombia and change in the
United States' approach since 2003. Give yourself a pat on the
back—you deserve it!
Earlier this month the Obama Administration submitted its foreign aid
budget request to Congress, giving us the first clear indication of
where the administration intends to take Colombia policy. The
administration has said many good (and needed) things since coming to
office, but now that they're showing us the money—and repeating the
Bush Administration's military aid request—it's clear that these
positive words are not yet being backed up with positive deeds.
The Obama administration’s State Department has released a “Summary and Highlights” document for its 2010 foreign assistance request, which offers some significant clues about where future aid is headed.
When we started working with faith-based and grassroots groups to
plan this year's Days of Prayer and Action, Colombians were being
forced to flee their homes at the staggering, almost unbelievable rate
of 1,500 a day. By the time 2008 was said and done, nearly 400,000 had
become internally displaced people (IDPs) and Colombia's displaced
population had swelled to more than 4 million, overtaking Sudan in the
seeming-blink-of-an-eye as the country with the world's most displaced
people. We knew we had to do something to make this crisis visible to
people here in the United State and to our government that has funded
and supported so many of the policies that have exacerbated this
humanitarian crisis.
A close up of a banner covered with thousands of paper dolls
representing displaced Colombians. Washington, DC. Photo credit: Carlos
Quiroz.
When we started working with faith-based and grassroots groups to plan this year's Days of Prayer and Action, Colombians were being forced to flee their homes at the staggering, almost unbelievable rate of 1,500 a day. By the time 2008 was said and done, nearly 400,000 had become internally displaced people (IDPs) and Colombia's displaced population had swelled to more than 4 million, overtaking Sudan in the seeming-blink-of-an-eye as the country with the world's most displaced people. We knew we had to do something to make this crisis visible to people here in the United State and to our government that has funded and supported so many of the policies that have exacerbated this humanitarian crisis.
After kicking around many good ideas with our organizing partners, we decided on something creative and engaging, something that would unleash the inner-kindergartener in everyone who would participate (although if we're being honest, we did not realize this at the time!), something that was so improbable that it just might work: we'd make thousands of cut-out paper dolls representing displaced Colombians, use them in public mobilizations around the country on the Day of Action, and send them to administration officials and members of Congress alike, imploring them to stand by victims of violence in Colombia.
Well, we're still waiting to see if our efforts will successfully push the administration and policymakers to significantly change U.S. policy towards Colombia this year, but with prayer services held in hundreds of churches, thousands of postcards sent to the White House, more than 30 interviews on local radio stations to discuss the displacement crisis, several dozen doll-making parties and approximately 20,000 paper dolls made, and direct actions using the paper dolls taking place in seven major U.S. cities (Chicago, Washington, Portland, San Francisco, New York, Cleveland, and Los Angeles), we can proudly say that, thanks to your hard work, this year's Days were the largest grassroots mobilization for Colombia since 2003. Everyone give yourself a pat on the back and thanks for participating!
We wish you all could have joined us as we spoke truth to power at the White House on the Day of Action, but we had the privilege of representing your voices and we took lots of photos and videos so you can see what happened.
Watch Diana Gómez,
a member of the Colombian group Movimiento Hijos e hijas por la memoria
y contra la impunidad, talk about the "human crisis" of displacement
and call for a U.S. policy that "responds to the needs of people in my
country."
Watch Kelly Nicholls, Executive Director of the US Office on Colombia, discuss how the Colombian government routinely fails to meet the needs and respect the rights of displaced people.
Many thanks to Witness for Peace-Mid Atlantic and the Colombia Human Rights Committee for helping to organize the White House rally.
You can also view an inspiring slideshow with photos from several cities' actions on Flickr.
Despite the success of this year's effort (we had fun making paper dolls, too!), our work to change Colombia policy goes on. But before getting to that, we encourage you to check out the photo essay below and take a moment to celebrate what we achieved together this spring. We hope you enjoy it!
Activists hold a life-size doll made by IDP communities in Bogotá. Personal stories from displaced people and calls for change are written on the doll. Washington, DC.
Marino Cordoba, a once-displaced and now-exiled Afro-Colombian leader, speaks to the crowd at Lafayette Park in Washington, DC about the challenges and stigmatization faced by displaced Colombians.
LAWG staffers Lisa Haugaard (center, front row) and Travis Wheeler (second from right, front row) join dozens of activists for a photo op in front of the White House.
Nancy Sánchez, a drug policy expert from the Associación Minga, speaks about how aerial fumigations cause displacement in Colombia as activists unleash their inner-kindergartener making paper dolls. Ms. Sánchez visit to Washington, DC was sponsored by LAWG participating organization Witness for Peace.
Liza Smith (left), a grassroots organizer at the Fellowship of Reconciliation, commands the megaphone as she leads activists to a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) office in San Francisco. Photo credit: Irene Florez.
Activists march through San Francisco's streets with 4,000 red, yellow, and black paper dolls stung together, making the magnitude of the crisis clear to onlookers. Photo credit: Irene Florez.
A close up of colorful paper dolls in San Francisco. Photo credit: Irene Florez.
Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America (CRLN) staffer Danielle Wegman (second from left) and Colombian Rev. Milton Mejia (far right) present a life-size doll made by displaced people in Bogotá to a staffer for Senator Roland Burris (D-IL).
CRLN members and other activists brave the cold for a rally outside of Chicago's Federal Building, which houses the offices of Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Roland Burris (D-IL).
Colombian Rev. Milton Mejia (left) and Rev. Beth Freese Dammers (right), wearing stoles covered with paper dolls, lead a "What is displacement?" sermon for children at Yorkfield Presbyterian Church in Elmhurst, IL.
Activists carry paper doll banners and a life-size doll made by IDP communities in Bogotá. Portland, OR.
Did you know that last year 1,500* Colombians were violently forced to flee their homes each day? At such a staggering rate, it's no wonder that Colombia is now home to
more than 4 million internally displaced people (IDPs), more than any
country in the world including Sudan.
While many of our readers know that Colombian human rights defenders
are frequently targeted and stigmatized by public threats and innuendo
that call the very legitimacy of their work—and sometimes their
personal integrity—into question, what’s less well understood is how
often the voices of those denouncing human rights abuses are stifled by
baseless investigations and prosecutions.
Speaking to reporters after a local “security council” meeting in Norte
de Santander earlier this week, President Uribe claimed that only 22 of
the many hundreds of cases of “false positives” civilian killings by
the Colombian army in recent years have any “judicial foundation.”
Another wave of threats has once again swept across Colombia, this time warning of an imminent “social cleansing” of “undesirable” individuals from Colombian society. Colombian churches and others are reporting that the violence unleashed by these alleged paramilitary threats has already left three young people and seven fishermen dead in Chocó.
Here's a guest blog from LAWG colleague Adam Isacson at the Center for International Policy on the debate surrounding Colombia's victims' law. Colombia needs a strong, fair law on victims rights and meaningful reparations.
Did you know that last year almost 1,500 Colombians* were violently forced from their homes each day? It's no wonder that Colombia now has more internally displaced persons
than any other country in the world, even more than Sudan.
Last week, Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos visited Washington, DC to meet with lawmakers and top Obama Administration officials, including Sec. of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Sec. Robert Gates, and National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones.
"My father was a dreamer. He was a cheerful, generous man. He was our
friend and our hero, the man who helped us discover the world."
These are the words of Yessica Hoyos Morales, whose father, Jorge Darío
Hoyos Franco, a Colombian labor leader, was assassinated in 2001 by two
hired hitmen, as she testified to a hearing held February 12th by the
House Committee on Education and Labor, chaired by Representative
George Miller (D-CA).
There have been some positive signals on human rights in just the first
three weeks of the Obama Administration. But since U.S. policy towards
Colombia and Latin America is not a priority for this administration, we
have to make sure that the United States is indeed standing up for
human rights by putting our energy into educating and cajoling our
representatives to support our values.
When we talk about Colombia, we often hear two reactions. "It's so complicated!" Or, "Why should I care. There are no good guys to support there." Well, as to the first, yes, it’s complicated. Even more than you know. But as to the second, there are few places on earth with more heroes
and heroines than Colombia.
As President Bush in the waning days of his administration bestows the
Presidential Medal of Freedom upon Colombian President Alvaro Uribe,
we'd like to nominate as LAWG Heroes of the Year 2008 the brave and
tireless Colombian human rights activists who are taking risks to end
the Colombian army's killings of civilians.
We're saddened to report that the spouse of an indigenous activist working in Cauca was killed when Colombian soldiers fired shots into his vehicle this past Tuesday. The killing of Edwin Legarda shows that despite recent firings of top military officials, the Colombian government is not doing enough to prevent new civilian killings by the army.
Although it was heartening to learn the news of the freeing of FARC kidnap victims in July, many other indicators of human rights in Colombia remain extremely troubling. The rate of internal displacement in Colombia accelerated in 2007 compared to the previous year, and remains at record-breaking levels in 2008, indicating that the war continues to rage in the countryside, brutally affecting the civilian population. Threats and attacks against human rights defenders continue, with assassinations of trade unionists increasing in 2008. Killings of civilians by the army escalated in 2007 and erupted into a major scandal in the last two months, forcing the government in October 2008 to announce long overdue dismissals of officers and resulting in the resignation of the head of the army. Paramilitary forces, despite the demobilization, exercise control in many parts of the country and threaten and abuse communities. Guerrillas are hard hit by army offensives but still exert control over territory, plant landmines, kidnap, and kill.
The Latin American Working Group Education Fund, Washington Office on Latin America, Center for International Policy, and U.S. Office on Colombia have just released Compass for Colombia Policy, which makes a strong case for a bold, new U.S. approach in Colombia aimed at ending impunity and strengthening respect for human rights.
With a human rights compass guiding them, President Obama and the new Congress must make clear that the United States will:
Support and protect human rights defenders and victims. The U.S. must stand by and empower the truly courageous individuals—human rights advocates, victims, judges, prosecutors, trade leaders, and countless others—who are the driving forces for a more just and peaceful Colombia.
Demand an end to the military’s human rights violations. Despite assurances that the Colombian army’s human rights record would improve with U.S. training, the army has carried out hundreds of extrajudicial killings of unarmed civilians. The U.S. must ensure that these abuses are investigated and ended.
Actively support overtures for peace. The United States cannot continue endlessly bankrolling war. The immense suffering of the civilian population demands that the United States takes risks to achieve peace. Careful, renewed efforts could yield real progress.
Invest in institutions and fight impunity. In Colombia, human rights violators are still rarely brought to justice for their crimes. The U.S. must invest in–and demand accountability from–the institutions charged with investigating human rights abuses and politicians’ ties to illegal armed groups.
Get serious—and smart—about drug policy. The U.S. must stop bankrolling the inhumane and ineffective aerial spraying program, and instead invest strategically in alternative development projects for small farmers in rural Colombia and drug treatment programs here at home.
With a new administration and Congress, we will have an extraordinary opportunity to change U.S. policy in Colombia to reflect our values of peace, justice, and human rights—but to achieve that change we need you to take action.
Here’s what you can do to make real change a reality:
Send a copy of the Compass to your representative and senators—especially important if they’ve just been elected.
Meet with your member of Congress in their district office and encourage them to support a new direction in U.S. policy towards Colombia.
On October 12th, more than 12,000 indigenous Colombians gathered to peacefully protest the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement and the Colombian government's consistent failure to return land obtained by violence to indigenous communities.
A Compass for Colombia Policy makes a detailed, persuasive case for a new U.S. strategy that would achieve our current policy goals while ending impunity and strengthening respect for human rights.
Last week, the Colombian government sent an 80-member delegation to Capitol Hill as part of an intensive, last-ditch effort to secure our Congress' support for the stalled U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Today, Colombia's president arrives in Washington, DC to continue this expensive lobbying blitz with the message that all is well with human rights in Colombia.
On July 2nd, Ingrid Betancourt, a former presidential candidate and mother of two, three American contractors—Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell and Thomas Howes—and eleven Colombian police and soldiers were freed after suffering many years of inhumane captivity by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Like so many in Colombia and around the world, we at the Latin America Working Group were overjoyed to learn of their release—finally, after being separated for so long, these hostages have been reunited with their loved ones and can go on with their lives.
Even after this release, the FARC still holds many hostages, in extremely harsh conditions, throughout Colombia. So, even as we celebrate the freeing of some, we also want to again express our solidarity with the remaining hostages and their families. We call on the FARC to unconditionally release the rest of their hostages and to explicitly renounce the practice of hostage-taking, which violates international law. We hope that the Colombian government seizes the opportunities of this dynamic moment by pursuing a just and lasting peace with the FARC guerrillas that will help bring to an end the human rights tragedy currently gripping Colombia.
“The only way to change the nation’s destiny is to help the victims tell their story.” —Colombian journalist Hollman Morris.
On February 4, 2008, Colombians marched in the millions in a powerful rejection of violence by the FARC guerrillas. It was an inspirational, authentic cry by Colombians weary of the horrific guerrilla tactics, and a show of solidarity for the suffering of the many Colombians held for years as captives of the FARC. While the march was a citizens’ effort, the government supported it enthusiastically, and President Álvaro Uribe offered “our voice of gratitude to all the Colombians who today expressed with dignity and strength a rejection of kidnapping and kidnappers.”
For many of the victims of paramilitary violence, the march’s enormous scale raised the question of why the same Colombian society that stood so united behind the victims of the FARC would fail to stand behind them. Why did so few seem to care about the families of the thousands of people who had been killed or disappeared by the paramilitaries, about the mass graves in the countryside, about the bodies that washed up on the banks of the rivers, or about the several million people forced to flee their homes, many by paramilitary violence? Why would the government lend support and credibility to this march, but remain mute about paramilitary crimes? Victims called for a second march a month later, to reject the violence by paramilitaries, as well as the actions of the soldiers and politicians who had supported them. As movement leader Iván Cepeda explained, victims wanted Colombian society to “offer a just homage to the displaced, the disappeared, the families of those assassinated or massacred… We don’t want just a moment of remembrance, we want solidarity.” Yet Colombian society was divided about participating, the government held this march at arms length, and march organizers faced a wave of death threats and violence.
The tale of the two marches helps to explain why a process that demobilized thousands of paramilitaries, members of a murderous armed group, would be so controversial. The victims, after an astounding period of violence, expect and demand not only an end to violence, but some tangible measure of truth, justice and reparations. But the victims of paramilitary violence are still waiting for the acknowledgment they long for, from the government and Colombian society: to recognize what they suffered, to admit the role of government officials, politicians and members of Colombia’s armed forces in aiding and abetting paramilitary atrocities, and to say: “Never again.” There is a palpable fear that on some level the demobilization is a sham—with groups that never really demobilized, others rearming, and paramilitary power maintaining a lockhold over national politics and local communities.
LAWGEF’s new report, The Other Half of the Truth, explores the limited opportunities for truth, justice and reparations available to victims of paramilitary violence through the official process established by the Colombian government. It takes the story up to the recent roadblock created by the controversial decision by the U.S. and Colombian governments to extradite the top paramilitary leadership to the United States on drug trafficking charges—a move that greatly complicates efforts to try them on human rights charges. Then the report highlights the often heroic efforts by diverse actors—human rights activists, journalists, prosecutors, Supreme Court judges, a few politicians, and especially victims—to wring, if not yet reparations and justice, at least a little more truth from the process.
For the limits to the truth offered by the official framework began to unravel as many different actors in Colombia tugged at truth as if at a tightly wound ball of yarn. Some one hundred and twenty-five thousand people attempted to register with government agencies as victims. Victims groups, many vociferously denouncing the official process, began to carry out their own truth sessions, mock trials and alternative registries of stolen land. Human rights groups assailed the obstacles to achieving justice through the demobilization law, and redoubled their efforts to document new abuses by the military and the rearming of paramilitary groups. Journalists published investigative stories and thoughtful opinion columns that sparked public debate on a subject long shrouded in silence. Colombia’s highest courts pried open the door to more justice than contemplated by the executive by setting some minimum standards for application of the demobilization law and hauling the politicians behind the paramilitaries into court. By the end of 2007, Semana columnist María Teresa Ronderos could say, “Like rabbits out of a magician’s hat came the names of businessmen, military and other accomplices of the paramilitary barbarie…. The truth that emerged this year has been sufficiently enlightening… that this year can pass down in history as the one in which we began to discover the truth.” These heroic individuals’ quest for the truth is an unfinished story, but it is an inspirational tale.
The report concludes with recommendations for how U.S. policy can best support the struggle for truth, justice and reparations in Colombia.
"We write to you regarding the extradition last month from Colombia to the United States of several paramilitary leaders of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, which is on the U.S. Department of States's list of foreign terrorist organizations. We are pleased that these criminals will be tried for their U.S. drug-trafficking crimes. At the same time, we ask you to keep in mind the horrific human rights abuses these men have committed in Colombia." Read the full letter (PDF).
Victims and human rights defenders became the targets of a severe wave of threats and violence earlier this year after organizing a peaceful march to call attention to the plight of victims and denounce violence by all actors in Colombia.
Last year the Congress made many positive changes in U.S. policy towards Colombia—changes that couldn't have been made without committed activists like you picking up the phone, demanding your voice be heard. With the foreign aid subcommittees in the House and Senate set to "markup" their respective bills in mid-July, it's time to call your representative and senators and urge them to stand by Colombia's victims of violence.
The Other Half of the Truth: Searching for Truth, Justice, and Reparations for Colombia's Victims of Paramilitary Violence explores the limited opportunities for truth, justice and reparations available to victims of paramilitary violence through the official process established by the Colombian government following a demobilization agreement with paramilitary forces.
Last week, the full House of Representatives approved a resolution to remove “fast track” language from the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement by a vote of 224 to 195. See how your representative voted. Thank your member of Congress if they voted to “stop the clock” on the trade pact. If they voted no, let them know your concerns about the Colombia FTA.
"We wish to convey our grave concern regarding threats and attacks against human rights defenders preceding and following the March 6, 2008 nationwide rally against paramilitary and other forms of violence. We urge you to take a firm and public stance in support of those who promote and protect human rights." Read the full letter (PDF).
As the debate on the free trade agreement for Colombia heats up, the true human rights tragedy that is still taking place in that country should not be ignored. It is essential for the United States to insist upon improvements in human rights in Colombia, not to paint a rosy picture to secure a trade agreement. U.S. policy must take responsibility for the behavior of security forces trained with U.S. taxpayer dollars; take into account the continued suffering of the civilian population in the midst of an ongoing conflict; and support the rights of victims to truth, justice and reparations after a decade of atrocities. Here is a summary of recent human rights concerns.
The Bush Administration attempts a return to “business as usual” on U.S. Colombia policy this year. We can stop this!
At the end of February, Senators Dodd (D-CT) and Feingold (D-WI) sent a “dear colleague” letter to Secretary of State Rice expressing concern over the increase in civilian killings by the Colombian Army in recent years. Visit www.lawg.org to read the letter and to see if your senators signed it. Many thanks to everyone who called in and wrote emails to their senators—sending a strong human rights message to Secretary Rice would not have been possible without a collective effort!
In its final foreign aid request, the Bush Administration has sought to reverse the positive new direction in aid to Colombia by returning to the same failed approaches of the past. If the request became law, funding for the military would again make up nearly 80 percent of U.S. aid to Colombia, while support for institutions responsible for investigating human rights abuses would be cut. Visit www.cipcol.org to learn more. As long as members of Congress continue to hear from you, we are confident the administration can be beaten back.
While this “back to the future” approach is not likely to find much support in the Congress, this is no time for us to rest. In mid-March, President Bush called approval of the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement “pivotal to America’s national security” and news reports are suggesting the administration may introduce the agreement in Congress at any moment. When this happens, we must be ready to tell our representatives to vote NO on the U.S.-Colombia FTA—and we’ll have to make sure they hear us loud and clear. Please check www.lawg.org for more information and suggestions for taking action once the FTA is sent to Congress.
Finally, we want to alert you to the threats our partners in Colombia have received in recent weeks. As many of you already know, following the early February marches against the FARC’s continued human rights abuses, particularly the terrible practice of kidnapping, the National Movement for Victims of State Crimes organized a March 6th protest to call attention to Colombia’s victims of paramilitary violence and to condemn acts of violence by all actors. In the days leading up to the protest, a close advisor to President Uribe went on national radio to suggest that the March 6th organizers rally was convened by FARC. Since these reckless comments were made, several of our partners have received email death threats.
We will continue to do all we can to denounce human rights abuses by all actors in Colombia. We are working with members of Congress and the State Department to ensure our Colombian partners who speak out and work for human rights are neither threatened nor harmed. To learn what you can do to help protect human rights defenders in Colombia, visit our website at www.lawg.org.
Call your member of Congress today! Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) are circulating a “dear colleague” letter to President Uribe over the recent wave of threats against, and targeted killings of, human rights defenders, trade unionists, and others in Colombia.
S.E. Álvaro Uribe Vélez
Presidente de la República
Cra. 8 #7-26
Palacio de Nariño
Bogotá
Colombia
Dear President Uribe:
We write to express our deep concern about the recent wave of threats, attacks and killings of human rights defenders and trade unionists in connection with the March 6 demonstrations against state and paramilitary human rights violations. We urge you to publicly and immediately adopt effective measures to stop this violence.
Over the course of one week, between March 4 and March 11, four trade unionists, some of whom were reportedly associated with the March 6 demonstration, were killed. Members of human rights organizations have also been subject to a large number of physical attacks and harassment. Their offices have also been broken into and equipment and files have been stolen.
In recent weeks a large number of human rights organizations, including la Asociación MINGA, the Colombian Commission of Jurists, Reiniciar, CODHES, the Movement of Victims of State Crimes (MOVICE), and Ruta Pacífica de Mujeres have received threats purportedly coming from the Black Eagles. One threat sent by email on March 11 specifically named twenty-eight human rights defenders. The threat, which was signed by the paramilitary group “Metropolitan Front of the Black Eagles in Bogotá,” accused the individuals of being guerrillas, referred explicitly to the March 6 demonstrations and stated that they would be killed promptly. The next day, another paramilitary email threat to various other groups announced a “total rearmament of paramilitary forces.” In addition to national human rights groups, the threats have targeted the international organization Peace Brigades International Colombia Project (PBI), the news magazine Semana, the Workers Central Union (CUT), indigenous organizations, and opposition politicians. A large number of additional recent instances of harassment, attacks and threats are currently being documented by national human rights groups.
This string of threats and attacks calls directly into question the effectiveness of the paramilitary demobilization process. Indeed, the Organization of American States has reported that twenty-two armed groups linked to the paramilitaries remain active around the country and has expressed “serious doubts about the effectiveness of demobilization and disarmament.”
We are especially concerned by the fact that the threats and attacks came shortly after a series of public accusations made by your presidential advisor, José Obdulio Gaviria, against the organizers of the March 6 protest. On February 10 and 11, on national radio, Mr. Gaviria suggested that the march’s organizers, including specifically Iván Cepeda (spokesman of MOVICE), were affiliated with the abusive guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Your government issued statements on February 15 and March 14 promising to guarantee the rights of those participating in the March 6 protest. However neither statement deterred Mr. Gaviria from continuing his stream of accusations on February 17 and March 20. His latest statement, suggesting that Mr. Cepeda is essentially a member of the FARC, is particularly outrageous coming after the recent wave of attacks and threats.
Baseless comments such as these are profoundly damaging to Colombian democracy and human rights, and place those against whom they are made in direct danger of violence. These statements stigmatize the legitimate work of thousands of human rights defenders, trade unionists, and victims, and can have a chilling effect on the exercise of rights to freedom of expression and free association. And in a country like Colombia, with its record of political violence, statements like these only contribute to a climate of political intolerance that fosters violence. Indeed, on February 11, the day after Mr. Gaviria first made the comments, the supposedly demobilized AUC paramilitary group released a statement on its website echoing Mr. Gaviria’s attacks on Mr. Cepeda and the victims’ movement.
It is precisely because prior administrations recognized the importance of respecting the work of human rights defenders and others, that Presidential Directive 7 of 1999 and Presidential Directive 7 of 2001 are now in place. Both directives order public servants “to abstain from questioning the legitimacy of… NGOs and their members… and to abstain from making false imputations or accusations that compromise the[ir] security, honor and good name…” Directive 7 of 1999 further clarifies that public servants must not “make affirmations that disqualify, harass or incite harassment of said organizations… [nor] emit … declarations that stigmatize the work of these organizations.”
We urge you to combat this wave of violence by:
Disavowing, in public and before national media, the statements made by Mr. Gaviria and others linking the March 6 protest organizers to guerillas; rejecting the recent wave of threats and attacks; reaffirming your government’s support for, and protection of, the legitimate work of human rights defenders and trade unionists; and ensuring that no further inflammatory remarks are made by members of your government;
Ensuring a prompt, impartial and comprehensive investigation into each of the recent killings, attacks and death threats. It is vital that those responsible for these attacks are held responsible. Any supposedly demobilized persons who participated in or ordered these crimes should be stripped of their paramilitary demobilization benefits, and you should take decisive action to dismantle paramilitary groups and break their links to state officials in accordance with United Nations recommendations;
Providing protective measures to those individuals named in the March 11 death threats, as well as to other persons who have been subject to attacks or threats, and personally holding meetings with victims, trade unionists, and human rights defenders who have been affected by the recent attacks to listen to their concerns.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.
Sincerely,
Andrew Hudson
Human Rights Defenders Program Human Rights First
José Miguel Vivanco
Americas Director Human Rights Watch
Renata Rendón
Advocacy Director for the Americas Amnesty International USA
Kenneth H. Bacon
President Refugees International
John Arthur Nunes
President and CEO Lutheran World Relief
Joy Olson
Executive Director Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli
Senior Associate for Colombia and Haiti Washington Office on Latin America
James R. Stormes, S.J.
Secretary, Social and International Ministries Jesuit Conference
Lisa Haugaard
Executive Director Latin America Working Group
Adam Isacson
Director of Programs Center for International Policy
Stephen Coats
Executive Director U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project (USLEAP)
Robert Guitteau Jr.
Interim Director US Office on Colombia
Heather Hanson
Director of Public Affairs Mercy Corps
Mark Johnson
Executive Director Fellowship of Reconciliation
Mark Harrison
Director, Peace with Justice United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
Monika Kalra Varma
Director Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights
Viviana Krsticevic
Executive Director Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)
Joe Volk
Executive Secretary Friends Committee on National Legislation
Melinda St. Louis
Executive Director Witness for Peace
Atossa Soltani
Executive Director Amazon Watch
Bert Lobe
Executive Director Mennonite Central Committee
Rick Ufford-Chase
Executive Director Presbyterian Peace Fellowship
Jim Vondracek
Managing Director Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America
Charo Mina-Rojas AFRODES USA
T. Michael McNulty, SJ
Justice and Peace Director Conference of Major Superiors of Men
Cristina Espinel
Director Colombia Human Rights Committee, Washington DC
Phil Jones
Director Church of the Brethren Witness/Washington Office
cc.
Vice President Francisco Santos
Vice President of the Republic of Colombia
Cra. 8 No. 7-57
Bogota
Colombia
Mr. Carlos Franco
Programa Presidencial de Derechos Humanos
Calle 7 No 6 – 54
Bogota D.C
Colombia
Mr. Thomas A. Shannon
Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520
Mr. David J. Kramer
Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Rights, and Labor
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520
Ambassador William R. Brownfield
U.S. Ambassador to Colombia
U.S. Embassy in Colombia
Calle 24 Bis No. 48-50
Bogotá, D.C.
Colombia
Ambassador Carolina Barco
Ambassador of Colombia to the United States
Embassy of Colombia in the United States
2118 Leroy Place, NW
Washington, DC 20008
At the end of last month, Senators Dodd (D-CT) and Feingold (D-WI) sent a “dear colleague” letter to Secretary of State Rice expressing concern over the increase in civilian killings by the Colombian Army in recent years. Click here to read the letter and here to see if your senators signed it. Many thanks to everyone who called in and wrote emails to their senators—sending a strong human rights message to Secretary Rice would not have been possible without our collective efforts!
Call your senators today! Senators Dodd and Feingold are currently circulating a “dear colleague” letter to Secretary of State Rice expressing concern over the alarming increase in killings by the Colombian army. Click here to read the letter.
"We share with you a firm commitment for U.S. policy to consolidate Colombia's democratic institutions, increase respect for human rights and strengthen the rule of law... We write to call your attention to increased reports alleging extrajudicial executions of civilians by members of the Colombian armed forces." Read the full letter here (PDF).
List of senators who signed the letter:
Chris Dodd (D-CT)
Russ Feingold (D-WI)
Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
Herb Kohl (D-WI)
Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Richard Durbin (D-IL)
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
Ted Kennedy (D-MA)
Bob Casey (D-PA)
Tim Johnson (D-SD)
Bernard Sanders (I-VT)
John Kerry (D-MA)
Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
The woman told me that Colombian soldiers had come and taken her husband from her house. Then they had tortured her husband all night in the field outside her house, close by. She and her children could hear the screams while the soldiers kept them barricaded inside. Finally, in the morning, it was over. The soldiers came and borrowed her broom to clean up the scene of the crime.
The young man, trembling, said the soldiers came into his house and took his father. They tied his hands and feet and sat him down in a chair. Then they killed him in front of the whole family.
The four young people, exhausted and crying, told me how their father had been taken from their home by hooded men. He was accused of being a guerrilla leader, but instead of being just detained, he was killed in captivity. The army said he was killed in combat. The young people traveled all over the province looking for him. When they finally found the cemetery where he was supposed to be buried, they had to dig him up themselves. They were scared. Now they were marked as children of a guerrilla leader in a militarized zone with no rule of law.
The woman told me her son had witnessed a soldier killing someone in their small rural community. Then her son, accompanied by her husband, went to testify about this in front of a military lawyer or judge who was located in the military base. Later, her son and husband were killed—according to the woman, again by soldiers.
These were the stories I heard, again and again, as I participated in an international observation mission on killings of civilians by the Colombian army. A coalition of Colombian human rights groups, led by Coordinación Colombia Europa Estados Unidos, arranged for us in October, in Bogotá, Antioquia and Valledupar, to hear witnesses and family members in over 130 cases of killings of civilians by the Colombian army.
Many of the cases involved people who were detained in their homes or workplaces by soldiers, often groups of soldiers. The families then went looking for them, asking at the military base. They were told, “We don’t have your family member, but here is this guerrilla killed in combat.” The body would be dressed in guerrilla clothing, often presented with a gun and transistor radio. The family members said their relative was taken away in civilian clothing.
Our observer mission found that most of these cases remain in the military justice system, where they go nowhere. By Colombian law, human rights violations, as opposed to disciplinary violations, should be investigated by civilian justice agencies and tried in civilian courts. There was some limited progress in moving these cases to the civilian system, but not much, and very few resulted in convictions. But most disturbingly, these incidents are increasing in number. See a joint memo on extrajudicial killings by LAWGEF, USOC, WOLA, CIP, and Coordinacion.
After listening to the witnesses, we met with high-level government officials from the justice system and Ministry of Defense. We then held a press conference in Bogotá for the press and diplomatic community.
The following week, working with the U.S. Office on Colombia and the Washington Office on Latin America, we brought two of the Colombian human rights lawyers who had organized the mission to talk to policymakers in Washington. We met with the State Department and key committees in Congress, as well as the press. Partly as a result of these concerns, Congress decided to continue its hold on $55 million in military aid. This is the aid from 2006 that is subject to the human rights conditions in law; the State Department has not yet certified that Colombia meets the human rights conditions for 2007. This means, as Colombian daily El Tiempo put it, that $110 million in U.S. military aid for Colombia is “in the freezer.” While it remains on hold, the State Department and Embassy are obliged to raise with the Colombian government these human rights concerns and ask them to ensure all cases go to civilian courts—and to stop these killings.
Many of the changes in aid to Colombia that you contacted your members of Congress about in 2007 became law when the president signed the all-rolled-into-one spending bill on December 26. While still very far from the perfect world we dream about, the law makes some positive changes in U.S. aid and policy towards Colombia.
Many of the changes in aid to Colombia that you contacted your members of Congress about in 2007 became law when the president signed the all-rolled-into-one spending bill on December 26. While still very far from the perfect world we dream about, the law makes some positive changes in U.S. aid and policy towards Colombia.
The Colombia package in the foreign aid bill includes:
cuts military and police aid in the foreign operations bill
by $141.5 million below what the President asked for, a 31 percent cut.
increases economic and social aid by $97.4 million, a 70 percent increase.
aid
that we called for to strengthen human rights and protect victims of
violence, including funding for investigation and prosecution of human
rights abuses; witness protection for victims; investigation of mass
graves; funding for legal representation of victims; and contributions
to the UN Human Rights office in Colombia.
cuts
aid for the inhumane and environmentally damaging aerial spraying
program, and increases aid for alternative development programs.
ties the human rights conditions to 30%, not just 25%, of military aid in the foreign operations bill.
$15 million for development aid for Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities
in
the human rights conditions that the Army must respect the rights and
territories of Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities
restrictions on investment in oil palm development if it causes people to be displaced or environmental damage.
What wasn't achieved? Among other things, we were not able to affect
funding in the less transparent and less accountable defense bill,
which also includes funding for counternarcotics programs, and we would
have liked the human rights conditions to apply to all military aid—and
for more military and aerial spraying funding to be cut.
But this is a real step forward! It would not have been possible without all of your actions in support of peace and human rights in Colombia.
Take Action! Ask your representative to stand with Afro-Colombians demanding their rights by co-sponsoring H. Res. 618. To be connected to their office, call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Visit our website at www.lawg.org/countries/colombia/alert_09-12-07.htm to find out if they’re already a co-sponsor of this important resolution.
During the August recess, Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ) introduced House Resolution 618, which recognizes the importance of addressing the plight of Afro-Colombians. Although this resolution is non-binding, it will provide much-needed moral support to a community caught in the crossfire.In Colombia, Afro-descendents are harshly affected daily by extreme poverty and racial discrimination. The statistics are truly astonishing. Although they often live in regions rich in natural wealth, 76% of Afro-Colombians live in extreme poverty. Chocó, the department with the largest Afro-Colombian population, receives the lowest per capita government investment in health, education and infrastructure of any department.
Whether they are “caught in the crossfire” or specifically targeted, Afro-Colombians are often forced to leave their communities and ancestral lands behind. As a result, Afro-Colombians now constitute a disproportionate amount of Colombia’s 3.8 million internally displaced. At a recent event here in Washington, Alba Maria Cuestas Arias, a displaced Afro-Colombian and board member of AFRODES, explained how displacement is used as a weapon of war: “Towns are destroyed, lives are destroyed. The social fabric is also destroyed. People are forced to leave that which they have been constructing for years and years.” Meanwhile, aerial spraying is destroying many of the food crops traditionally grown by Afro-Colombians, leading to further displacement and insecurity.
H. Res. 618 will bring attention to the plight of Afro-Colombians and will show that the U.S. Congress stands behind them. Along with recognizing the Afro-Colombian contributions to Colombian society, the resolution calls on the Colombian government to end racial discrimination and protect Afro-Colombians’ constitutionally guaranteed lands. The resolution also rightly encourages the U.S. and Colombian governments to consult with Afro-Colombian groups when developing policies that will affect them. In the words of Alva Maria Cuestas, “When the government talks about displacement in Chocó, they simply say that either it doesn’t exist or that if it ever existed, it has now been dealt with.” Perhaps Rep. Payne’s resolution will help change this situation by ensuring the voices of Afro-Colombians are heard by policymakers in both countries.
"Colombia remains the most dangerous place in the world to be a part of a labor union...Strong, affirmative actions must be taken to protect the vital human right to organize a union and to negotiate for decent wages and benefits." Read the full letter (PDF).
Legislative change: We’ll work with you during April and beyond to ensure that Washington feels the force of the movement calling for change in U.S. policies towards Colombia. First, they’ll hear from you on the National Call-In Day on April 19th. Then, once you’ve displayed these faces in your cities, send the materials to Washington in May where we’ll be doing some last big displays before taking the faces with to Congress and the Administration to deliver your message. We’ll post more info on these actions soon! 
As a newcomer to the LAWG team, and inside the beltway advocacy, I have
been surprised over the last few months to learn what it actually takes
to achieve the change we want. Before I started, I assumed that if we
could simply bring the facts about real people who are suffering as a
result of U.S. policies in countries like Mexico and Colombia, we could
make it happen. But it turns out that there's so much more that goes on
in DC every day than I could have anticipated.
